Sunday, July 24, 2011

Criminal activity across Canada has fallen to its lowest level in 38 years with the fewest murders since 1966.

Statistics Canada reported the rate continued a 20-year decline last year even as the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper called for the passing of bills to get tougher on criminals.

The severity of criminal acts dropped six percent last year with fewer homicides, attempted murders, serious assaults and robberies.

There were 554 reported murders last year, 56 less than a year earlier, while attempted murders totaled 693, down from 801 and the lowest in 30 years.

(News Release - CBSA)

Montreal, Quebec, July 19, 2011 – The summer holiday season is upon us, and many Canadians will likely be travelling abroad over the coming weeks. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is making every effort to minimize border wait times during this peak period; travellers can facilitate their re-entry into Canada by keeping the following five tips in mind.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Canada’s journey into combat instead of peacekeeping that cost the lives of 157 soldiers, a diplomat and a journalist has ended in Afghanistan.

The pullout of troops as ordered by the Canadian government formally took place when the Royal 22nd Regiment handed over its battlefield at Ma’sum Ghar to U.S. command.

Lieutenant-Colonel Michel-Henri St-Louis said the base, a crusted, petrified volcanic mountain, became a symbol of the Canadian struggle in the past five and a half years and is where many deaths occurred.

Canada’s Conservative government announced an end to the combat role but said 950 soldiers and support staff will remain to train Afghan police and army troops in Kandahar until 2014.

“Everywhere in battle where Canadian soldiers have sacrificed their lives, we have examples of similar places in a number of our conflicts,” St-Louis said.

“Ma’sum Ghar is not Passchendaele, Dieppe, Ortona, Monte Casino, Juno Beach -- or even Kapyong from the Korean War,” he added.

The pullout was also uncharacteristic. This is the first time in history the Canadian military has left a battlefield while a war still rages.